Kids say the Darndest things

source

Thought I'd share some gems from my boys...Enjoy!

E: I'm glad God gave me to you.

E: Me and Jesus are important.

L: Who's the prettiest in the car, Mommy is!

E: Now you look like a princess. (while trying on dresses at the store)

L: I like that one, I bet they're gonna kiss you. (while trying to decide which dress to keep)

Me: Who's going to kiss me?

L: I'll kiss you!

L: Daddy is the oldest right?

Me: No, I'm the oldest...by 2 months.

L: So if Daddy's 31 (which he's not), then you are sixty....

Me: Wha?  How can you think I'm sixty!?  (This led to a lesson on the difference between months and years and how mommy is most definitely NOT 60)

L: Daddy, can we lay in your bed tonight?  Your bed is sooo comfortable.  I think it's you that makes it that way.

E to L: No, the bald one doesn't want to. (in reference to Daddy) Ha!

Thanks for all the advice and encouragement on my last post. 
Things have been much better this past week but if it starts to become a daily thing like it was,
I feel much better equipped to handle it better thanks to you guys! 

Happy Monday!

It still hurts

source

"you're so mean!"

"you're just an old lady!"

These are the words my 3yr-old yelled at me this morning while I was trying to get him dressed.  

He's been saying a lot of hurtful things to me lately.  

What's up wit' that?  

It's not as much what he says, but the way he says it.  

Real angry-like and serious with a major scowl on his face and daggers shooting out of his eyes.  

He still gives me hugs when I come home from work though so I have to assume this is just 

"one of those phases"....but it still hurts.

I've tried spending some extra snuggle time with him because usually when my kids act up it's because they need some personal attention but he really doesn't want anything to do with it.  Remember this post...not too long ago he just wanted his mama, my mere presence was enough to bring his little heart peace,
and now....I don't know.  I hope it passes soon.

Any other mama's been through this?  

Was it just a phase?  

Please lie to me and tell me it was ;)

Wet weekend at the farm

 

We went to visit my Dad and stepmother at their farm this past weekend.....boy did we need some time away!  Trying to grow two businesses, keep house, and take care of the kids was getting a bit overwhelming so a little R&R at the farm was just what the doctor ordered.  

Too bad the weather did not cooperate fully with us.

Thankfully Friday night was beautiful so we were blessed with some awesome scenery as we drove up.  We love the drive itself and always enjoy seeing all the barns, 

livestock, and rolling hills along the way.  There's just something about country air...

The view from their deck...does it get any better than that?  

Yes, that's one of their horses grazing the distance.

Even though it was getting late and we didn't have a lot of daylight left when we arrived, we decided to go for a four-wheeler ride in the woods since we knew it was going to rain the next day.  We're like giddy little kids on the four-wheelers, the boys and me and Hubsy too.  I swear I had a grin on my face the whole time.  Love winding through the trails in the woods.

We stopped by the creek to check the minnow trap.  

There were indeed two minnows in there but mostly crayfish. 

We rode until dark.  Just enjoying the woods.  And the ride.  

The boys are in heaven when we are there which just doubles my joy.

Saturday was too wet and dreary to enjoy the outdoors so we did the only thing left to do....go to Farmer's Inn and gorge ourselves on an awesome breakfast buffet :)

Beautiful mural by the buffet.

Love the country decor. the whole place is so warm and cozy.

We were bummed that the weather wasn't better, (somehow it always seems to be either raining or snowing on the majority of our visits) but we certainly enjoyed our visit none-the-less. Hubsy and I keep talking about living somewhere with more land.  We love our house and where we live but it sure would be nice to get back to the country.  I'm just a country girl at heart.  My fantasy is to have a house on about 10 acres of land, a garden, a goat, and some chickens :)  So to fuel the fire my stepmother lent me this book.

Can't wait to read it, my sister loved it too....but I MUST finish the Hunger Games first.  

Yep I'm a little late to that party but that's OK.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Linking up with Carissa today :)

April photo-a-day Part 1

{1} Your reflection - forgive the sweaty messy hair, just got back from a run.

{2} Color - cobalt grape hyacinths

{3} Mail - no bills ;)

{4} Someone who makes you happy - no words needed

{5} Tiny - little sprouts

{6} Lunch - homemade flatbread pizza, yum!

{7} Shadow - my floors are always covered with some sort of errant toy.

{8} Inside your wallet - stamps, museum passes

{9} Younger you - probably 10+ years ago at my Dad's farm

{10} Cold - just me Hubsy needs after a hard day at work.

{11} Where you ate breakfast - at my messy desk, this is where I eat it 5 days a week.

{12} Stairs - at the playground, wouldn't it be cool to have some like this in your house?

{13} Something you found - L wrote on his furniture, I was not happy.

{14} How you feel today - couldn't decide if I was nervous or excited

{15} Sunset - beauteous

Happy Friday All - Make it a great weekend!

Found

This is where I found God this week.  

Most often I see him in nature, in the things that he created.  

I was walking briskly, head down, oblivious to anything but what was on my mind.  Then looked up for no apparent reason and was just struck by the beauty hanging over my head.  

The ultimate creator, the ultimate designer.  

Brings me such peace to just stop and appreciate the beauty once and a while.

Beautifully Rooted

Miscellany Monday

Lowercase Letters

 Ready. Set. Go!

{1} Spring Vendor Sale

I participated in the Spring Vendor Sale at a local school this past Thursday for my Behind the Moon Beadworks handmade jewelry business.  It was a pretty casual affair but I had some good sales and the learning experience was invaluable so I call that a success!  The venue itself was set up a little awkwardly but everyone made it work the best they could.  I really enjoyed the experience and left with some great new contacts.  Here's a few photos....I didn't take many, like I said it was a pretty casual atmosphere so I just snuck a few with my phone.  I can't wait to do another craft show!  I'm thinking a nice large order of new supplies is most definitely called for :)

{2} Trader Joe's

I finally got to experience the phenomenon that is Trader Joe's!  We don't have one that is close by, in that it's more than 20 minutes from my house.  That seems to be our magic number :)  If it takes longer than that, we're not likely to go.  Anywho, we needed to go out that way on a different errand so I begged my husband to stop at Trader Joe's too.  I loved it!  I wish I had more time to look around but it was nearing lunch/nap time and I knew I'd have a bunch of cranky boys on my hands soon.

{3} Poor girl's bun

I've re-visited an old hairstyle of mine that I like to call the poor girl's bun.  Poor girl in the sense that I have such thin hair. It rarely has that highly-coveted volume I'm fighting for but this style makes it seem like I have thick rich hair pulled up into that bun ;)

{4} New Venture

Me Hubsy started a new venture a few weeks back and has thankfully hit the ground running.  He's been blessed with a good bit of initial success so we're hoping to keep it going.  The car magnets he ordered finally came so I'm excited to do my part in helping to advertise for him.

{5} K-Love

I love listening to the K-Love radio station, in all honesty it has really changed my life.  A few Christmases ago my mom gifted me with a T-shirt.  I get a kick out of wearing it, I like to think the K-love is for Krista's love, and strive to make it positive and encouraging all the time :)

{6} Three Rivers

For those of you not familiar with "the 'burgh", one of the things we are famous for is being located on the intersection of three rivers...thus we have a ton of bridges.  I'm talking bridges everywhere.  They are really pretty cool so I decided to snap a few pics (with the iphone) on a car ride near the city recently.

Happy Monday y'all!

Make it a good one :)

A whole lot (of not blogging) going on

What's up my sweet bloggy friends?  

I'm glad to hear many of you had a nice Easter, we did too.  Just don't have any time to post about it.  

The good news is I'm a busy little bee preparing for the Spring Vendor Sale I'm participating in on Thursday for my Behind the Moon Beadworks business.  

Add that to working my "day job" and sick kids and this lady does not have time for much else.  

I look forward to catching up with all of you soon!

And with that I will leave you with some designs I've been working on :)

Hope you're having a great week!

Sometimes they just need a Mama

Me: "Please try to stop crying"

E: *sniff* *sniff* "o-tay"  *sniff* *moan* *sob*

Me: "It's ok sweetpea, mama's here"

My little man woke last night crying.  

This is not necessarily unusual.

He's a lot like me, we don't do well when awoken from sleep.

I went to his room, told him everything was ok, tucked him back in and 

left the room expecting the crying to stop.  

Because usually that's enough to do it.  

But not last night.  

He kept crying. 

I started to get frustrated because I didn't want him to wake L up (who's been having sleeping issue of his own lately).  I went back in and told E to settle down, there was nothing wrong.

We try to encourage self-sufficiency in our kids where sleeping is concerned.  Not that we will never lay with them but once you do it (like when they're sick or what have you), they wake every night wanting you to come lay with them.  This may sound harsh but we just can't co-sleep all the time, then me Hubsy and I end up not sleeping and things can get pretty cranky around my house in a hurry.

There was just something about the way E was acting that I knew the usual process wasn't going to work.  So I scooped him up in my arms and rocked him a bit.  And as I did so I kept thinking "Thank you God for giving me this one more time".  My frustration at his crying vanished and I was suddenly so thankful that this little man, who is growing up all to quickly, was content to be rocked again.  

It was such a blessing for me.

I caressed his sweet head and after a moment he told me he was settled.

The sobbing stopped.

His little eyes closed.

And he whispered "I love you".

Often I get so caught up in teaching them something...patience, self-sufficiency, etc...

that I forget that sometimes they just need me to be their Mama.

Just be with them.

There in that moment.

Sharing whatever they are going through so they know that they are not alone.

Sometimes that is more powerful than actually fixing whatever is going on.

After all how many times do I still want my own Mom?

Not to necessarily fix my problem, I'm too old for that, just to simply be with me, 

so I know that no matter what I'm not alone.

March - Photo a day Project - Part 2

Here's the second batch of photos from the March Photo-a-day project.
Yea, I know I'm like 4 days last with this...oh well.  Sometimes life gets in the way :)

{16} Sunglasses - the best ones double as a headband to hold your hair back when you need them to

{17} Green - our grass is loving this spring weather

{18} Corner of your home - the messiest one!

{19} Funny - Austin Powers is hilarious!

{20a} Before - Someone teach me how to do collages on my Instagram app PLEASE!

{20b) After

{21) Delicious - my favorite guilty pleasure snack, animal crackers dipped in store bought icing...YUM!

{22} Kitchen sink - My bluebird of happiness resides on the shelf above my sink

{23} Moon - My moon on the back of my business card :)

{24} Animal - A turtle bead I've had forever, just waiting to be made into something beautiful.

{25} Breakfast - Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins - I have one probably every other day if not more.

{26} Your name

{27} Trash - banana peel, I'm a monkey what can I say?

{28} Feet - my painted tootsies

{29} Toy - The Bone Knapper dragon, I have boys remember? Their toys tend to be gruesome.

{30} Where you relax - I hardly ever relax until I hit my bed, I'm working on that :)

Join in for April's fun won't you?

Space-Themed birthday party

I can't believe my boys are now 3 and 6! 

It marks a new era. 

Me Hubsy rolls his eyes at my drama but seriously, I will never have a child under the age of 3 in my house again.  Cue the crocodile tears.  OK I'll move on from my grief now

(all mother's know that the time passes WAY to quickly)...

 

We recently had their space-themed birthday party.  They are 2 years and 364 days apart so we did another combined birthday party this year, astronaut-style.  The inspiration came when me Hubsy got me a bake pop maker for Christmas.  I thought they would make great planets and so the theme was born. Unfortunately I was not successful, on the planet pops that is.  I don't know what happened but my icing was just refusing to work with me so my would-be planets ended up looking more like brightly colored blobs.  I give major props to this talented lady who totally pulled if off....

Aren't her's stellar!

My one redeeming craft is these space jet packs that I made for part of the astronaut training that we did.

I got the idea from my sweet friend Cory who saw them at her friend's party.

UPDATE: So many people have asked for instructions on making the space packs so here you go!

1. Spray paint two 2L pop bottles a silver color and let dry.

2. Set the two empty 2L pop bottles side by side.  Use a hot glue gun to run a line of glue where they touch and press them together. 

3. Use some rope for the shoulder straps.  Tie a length of rope into a circle, make one for each shoulder. Hold the rope circles in place on the bottles and use heavy duct tape to wrap all pieces together.  

4. Use two red solo cups for the rocket boosters.  Cut a hole in the bottom of each cup for the mouth of the bottle to fit through.  Use hot glue to glue around the edges of the hole, attaching it to the mouth of the bottle at the same time.  Don't be afraid to glue the heck out of it :) 

5. I added some fun foam stars for decoration and voila! 

The astronaut training went a little something like this...

{1} First challenge was to withstand forces your body will be under when in space.  

We used centrifugal force and spun each kid around on a spinny chair.  This went over quite well, what kid doesn't like to spin like crazy on an office chair!?!

{2} Next we had to test their lung capacity.  We had them use straws and essentially use them to blow a paper wad across the table.  Little did they know they were practicing for spit wad wars later in school :)

{3} We had "shuttle" races where they had to run to a designated spot, put on their space pack and 

run back to the start.

{4}  Lastly they had to hunt for "moon rocks" which I hid all over my house.  I used black rocks from  Wal-mart, you know, the kind that are supposed to be used for decorating vases, or candle-scapes? 

Well they became moon rocks :)

After completing their astronaut training, our little Space Cadets EACH got an official badge to wear.

Their party gifts included a space coloring/activity book that I put together, some foam rocket blasters (courtesy of Wal-Mart), a mini frisbee (or flying saucer if you will), puffy star stickers, and of course...candy!  They also got to keep their moon rocks and collection buckets.

Every year I try to make it organized and it sounds like it was from how I wrote it out above but somehow it always ends up in utter chaos.  My sister-in-law told me to just embrace the chaos...wise words I think.

All in all my boys had a blast so it was all worth it.  

Man am I glad I only have to do this once a year!

How about you?  Do you do themed parties for your kids birthdays?  
How do you keep things organized?